PiCast is the open source alternative to Chromecast

Google has recently been getting lots of love for the Chromecast, the $35 dongle that allows anyone to send webpages onto the TV and can also play YouTube, with Vimeo, HBO Go, Pandora and Hulu all pledging support.

It was only a matter of time before other developers and companies hopped on the bandwagon, hoping to gain a little bit of traction. It seems the open source option is in first, PiCast, made with the same idea and running on Raspberry Pi.

The price comes around the same, a Raspberry Pi computer costs around $25 – 35 and allows the user to make customisations and essentially create whatever they want, if they have the knowledge.

Lance Seidman has took his Raspberry Pi and created it into a more open source and a little harder to learn Chromecast. The developer believes because of the open community help in creating apps, soon the PiCast will have more “support” than the Chromecast.

Seidman has already got webpages working and has finally fixed YouTube to get it working too, but there is still a way to go before it can be a worthy investment and not just something for hackers and developers who find the Chromecast too walled off to the community.

All the user needs to do is getting a Raspberry Pi computer and then download the PiCast from GitHub. Raspberry Pi has been used for lots of new weird and wacky technologies and we are glad to see the open source community creating what could be a worthy competitor.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: we are not affiliated with the device manufacturers or phone carriers we mention in any way, all suggestions are based on our own experience and research, you may use our advice at your own discretion.